This shot was taken from an upper floor of the Furness Shipyard Offices, possibly from the window at the end of the corridor. The shipyard gates and gatehouses can be clearly seen, I haven’t had time to research or date this image, judging by the lack of vehicles and the workers on bikes or foot I think this could be as early as the war years or as late as the mid 1950s, it is very likely my father was working at the yard when this was taken 1939-1962. I was hoping the hoarding advertising Digger tobacco would help date it but that particular tobacco was on sale from 1917 until the 1980s. One of the houses on Hope Street on the far side of the line is where my paternal Great Grandparents lived, my Grandfather and his two brothers were born there, my Grandfather worked in the shipyard, his two brothers both worked at the power station on Haverton Hill Road. The white building in the distance I think must be the Queens Hotel. If anybody knows anything about this station or can give an approximate date I would love to hear about it.
Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
Picture Stockton Archive 
A couple of off topic comments if you will forgive me Bruce.
Your grandfathers brothers, at the power station, would most probably have bumped into my father Harry Wade and his brothers Frank and Wally: Wally was the area union guy.
The working mens “toilets” at the shipyard comprised a long tin building, I recall being told by a fellow student in the 1960s, of the advanced flushing system. The chaps sat on a plank and a constant stream of water beneath flushed all to the Tees. The men were allowed 5 minutes before wages were docked. A risky “joke” by the students was to make a paper boat, set it on fire and float in down the flush stream!
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Bruce is there any pictures of the steam engine loco shed in the ICI I remember the engines being the sadle tank type mostly named local rivers. The drikold train arrived at the east grid at five then attached to a York B16 the drikold mostly went to Blackpool I oiled the train up before it departed being employed by BR in 1956
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Hello Peter
I don’t have any photos of the ICI sheds but I do have a couple of the Haverton Sheds with locos, I also have two shots of Port Clarence Station taken long after it closed, it is derelict and looks about ready to fall down.
Is your email the same as last time we were in touch?, if it is I will send them to you, otherwise I will upload them to Onedrive and you and others can download them from there.
Another thing that might interest you is an album of postcards of British steam locomotives from Victorian times up to the demise of steam, this is a large file and will need to be uploaded to Onedrive as it is too big to email, you will need a windows PC to view the album.
The steam locomotive postcard album is the first of about 8 in total, I am putting them together in my spare time but I wanted to get the first volume out to see if it would be of interest.
Bruce
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Yes Bruce, my email address is still the same
Peter
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Hello Derek
I didn’t know my Grandfather or his brothers, my Mother never met them and my Father was a strong silent type, he never mentioned his work or family or anything else really, I only know where his brothers worked from the 1921 Census, they were both electricians in the power station in 1921 and that is all I know.
I had heard the tale about the full flow toilets and the burning boats in the shipyard, it was very much the sort of caper that the lads working in industry would be involved in.
Bruce
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My father, Harry Randall worked at Furnace shipyards as a plater before and after the war until we emigrated to Canada in 1954. When we got to Canada he worked at the Shipyard in Kingston Ontario. Anyone remember him?
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The railway canteen my older sister worked there in the 50’s
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Haverton Hill station closed in the mid 1950’s when the line lost its passenger service although the station continued to be used for special trains ran in conjunction with the launch of ships from the adjacent shipyard. I believe the white building in the photograph would of been The Wellington public house, the Queens was slightly further along on the same side.
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I was born in 1935 in Clarence Street. My dad spent most of his life working at the shipyard as a crane driver. My mother owned a fish and chip shop at 43 Clarence Street. I remember the Colemans in the area. I often saw the men (and women) coming out at lunchtime from the shipyard. Many of them went for a drink at the pub, and other’s, who lived close, went home for a quick dinner. I lived in Haverton until I was 21 and left to go to Canada.
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I remember an anchor on the back of an Artic getting stuck under the bridge and my dad coming out of the Top House pub jumped on the back of the wagon knocked the chock out given enough room for the wagon to drive out.
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